In light of National Adoption Awareness Month, I felt led to share how adoption has touched our lives and correct some misconceptions. I really don't know how many "truth's" I plan to do this month, but this one has been lain (very heavily) upon my heart and I would like to get rid of it, so to speak.
I don't believe that everyone is called to adopt. There are some that are meant to adopt, and some that are meant to pray for those who adopt and some are meant to financially support or help those that are called to adopt. All are beautiful.
I feel many are called to adopt, but discount that calling. Many things can pop up and steal the faith that it takes to start the process. One of those things is . . . the money. Everyone needs money. You have to have it to survive. Some people have a lot of it and some don't have enough. One lie that most believe is that only those who have a lot of money can adopt. NOT TRUE. Does it take a lot of money to adopt? It can. Depends on where you adopt from.
Now, I know nothing about people's circumstances. All I know is our circumstances went against the "only the rich can adopt" theory. We are self employed and live a VERY simple life. We didn't have the money laying around to start Joye's adoption. In fact, we put the first fees on our credit card. Which was about $4,000. Was that smart? Not entirely. Our CC company hiked the fees and made it really hard to pay back. However, I can say with certainty that we no longer have that Credit Card and that it was paid off. Not sure how though, I don't remember. (I am not advocating going into debt to pay for an adoption - just stating our journey and how it all worked out.) We then opened up a savings account and got to work praying daily for God's Mighty provision. We did a few fundraisers. Raised about $4,000 and were touched so deeply by our community who helped out A LOT. Where did the rest come from? I have no idea. Our savings account just kept growing and growing and growing. When we received the phone call that changed our lives forever, all the money was in there to accept Joye's referral. Actually, we had a whopping $.69 left over.
Then we were wondering if we could afford to go to Korea. All we had was $.69! Again, by the time we were ready to travel, we had saved enough to go and pick up our baby girl. To recall, I really don't know where the money came from. I know we saved here and there, used a tax return or two, but does it make ANY sense that we (we didn't; HE did) had accumulated $20,000+ in a little over a year? Not one iota.
But God.
He knew.
He knew, right down to the nickels and dimes.
I know that if you step out in faith and trust Him, he will provide. I know it!
So that is my Truth for today. If God calls you to adopt, trust that He will provide EVERYTHING you need to get you through. Because He will. I promise. If you read any of the Gospels you will see how enamored Jesus is with the act faith. It's the only thing that shocks him! The Bible says "you cannot serve two masters . . . you cannot love both God and money." (Matt. 6:24) Who are you going to believe and love more? I LOVE the verse that is just a few above, which I think is eloquently placed together with the money verse, "store up your treasures in heaven" Matt. 6:20. You can't take money with you to heaven, it's no good there. But you can take some beautiful children. Amen?
Friday, November 12, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
What a BEAUTIFUL post! I could barely read it with the tears in my eyes! You are sooo right. Our experience has been the same. We are both teachers and do not live an extravagant life. We also didn't know how we would come up with the money to start our adoption, but just like you said, we put our faith in God and ever since our savings account has grown and grown! I also have no idea how it has gotten so big so fast. We have tried to save everywhere we can, but it just doesn't add up. In past years, we would try to save money and end up with a couple hundred extra if we were lucky. This time, since we have started our adoption, we are looking at thousands that just seem to miraculously be there each time another adoption fee comes due. Each fee we have been able to cover completely on our own which is amazing. God is truly working. To HIM deserves all the glory!!!!!
Beautiful! It is amazing. We're not rich but God has definitely blessed us and provided for us all we need for this adoption. We recently found out that there is a raised fee starting in January with SWS and at the same time told not to expect a referral for a long time so this means additional funds for SWS fees as well as it being likely that we'll have to pay to update our home study. This is frustrating, but not scary. We know that God will provide it, we've managed to save everything else to this point so it won't be a problem. Thanks for sharing!
God is good...no God is great isn't he??
When we got the call, a man was in our drive way buying our ATV which supplied us the last amount of money we needed. God sent him I know it.
Oh, I loved this post. So much truth--happy to hear how the Lord, once again, has provided for a family who followed in obedience to His calling. Thank you for sharing your heart...it is such an encouragement to me as we fundraise!!
I completely concur. I actually sat down today and figured out all of our adoption expenses that we paid for. We received an adoption loan, and many generous donations to help us along the way. I honestly don't know how we came up with the rest of the money needed. But God does. He had told me before we even set out on this journey that He would provide everything we needed. At times, I doubted; but HE did.
Just thought I would share.
Post a Comment